Seattle is a fishy place. With the Puget Sound in its backyard, the Olympic Peninsula three hours west, and sneaky creeks within striking distance due east, you’d think that in addition to espresso factories on every corner it’d be easy to source a fly shop. But that hasn’t always been the case. Until now.
America’s National Park System includes more than 400 areas covering approximately 84 million acres. Hundreds of millions of visitors enjoy these protected lands annually, and within their borders development ends, species like buffalo roam, and native trout live free and prosper. National parks are awesome that way and they are not limited to the U.S. NP…
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Golden dorado are streamer junkies feared by skittish baitfish everywhere. In the Salta Region of northern Argentina, they are also threatened by overharvest, habitat degradation, and poorly understood ecological factors. A new study led by a team from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Department of Environmental Conservation, aims to address those concerns in order to preserve the species…
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Good news arrived last night when Utah Stream Access Coalition (USAC) announced it won its longstanding Weber River case. Judge Keith Kelly of Utah’s 3rd District Court confirmed that the Weber is navigable where it crosses over the landowner defendant’s properties, which means that the resource BELONGS TO ALL OF US. “In the 26-page decision, the…
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In the first episode of Find Your Water, follow along with Redington employees as they stomp through the rainforest “test facility” located in their backyard—the Washington Coast. Steelhead season (and swinging in the rain) is something we’re sick for, and this vid makes it easy to see why.
A new study by stream ecosystem scientists concludes that the average cost to produce a juvenile coho salmon through habitat restoration in British Columbia is about the same as producing a hatchery salmon. But when the variables turn to “value,” stream enhancement has a healthier outlook. “With costs being equal, the study concludes that wild…
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The town of St. Helena, CA is seeking an additional $800,000 to remove the Upper York Creek Dam, which has been blocking steelhead migration for more than a hundred years. In 2000, NOAA determined that the dam violated the Endangered Species Act and earlier in 1993 a court ordered the dam be removed. In 2010…
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Clean water powers paddling and flyfishing opportunities. It’s also essential for brewing awesome BEER. With that in mind, SUP manufacturer BOTE™ Boards and SweetWater Brewing Company have teamed to raise cash for Waterkeeper® Alliance—an organization dedicated to the protection, preservation, and rights to clean waterways.
Last year, master craftsman Gene Dumper took several of his hand-tied flies, encased them in Clear Cure Goo, and created this special toilet seat in his Portland, Maine, workshop. After months of in-house testing, Dumper sent his prototype to America’s leading multichannel merchant, L.L.Pinto, resulting in a contract for a dozen custom seats.
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In 1974, Montana killed the hatchery machine and curbed trout stocking. Thanks to trailblazing efforts of steadfast biologists like Richard Vincent, wild fish, on rivers like the Madison, have since flourished. In the Montana Story: 40 Years of Success, filmmaker Shane Anderson details how going wild works and raises the question: Why not? Stay tuned…
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Pebble Limited Partnership (PLP) has played another card from its ever-thinning deck. It has retained the services of Clintonian Secretary of Defense William Cohen (who worked with Bill from 1997-2001) and his company the Cohen Group, which, “assists multinational clients from all sectors to pursue business opportunities and overcome problems in quickly changing markets around…
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Meet Keys’ captain, Derek Rust, in the latest flats-fishing edit from Dan Decibel. Says the filmmaker, “Every time we fish, we always have an awesome time on his boat. We look for bonefish, permit and tarpon when the weather allows. Whether we catch fish or not, you can always bet on some crap talking during…
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A measure designed to allow New Mexico landowners to restrict angler access cleared the House by a slim 32-31 margin last week, sending Senate Bill 226 to Gov. Susana Martinez’s desk for consideration. “In the final minutes before the New Mexico legislative session adjourned, in an all-too-familiar fashion, stream access there was stripped from the…
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Facing glassy conditions, Key West-based angler Nathaniel Linville—guided by Capt. John O’Hearn of Big Pine Key—caught and released four permit to win last week’s March Merkin tournament. Linville, who was also victorious at the Del Brown tourney back in July, landed one permit on day one followed by three the second day for a total…
DetailsMore than thirty years after hosting its first fishermen, Kiritimati is hotter than ever. I heard them before I saw them. When giant trevally are chasing bait in shallow water, the frantic reaction produces a distinct spraying sound, like the inside of your vehicle as you pass through the power-rinse of a car wash. The…
DetailsAWHILE BACK, I had a brief visit with a sporadically retired commercial netter at the gas dock in Port Aransas, Texas. He had an unlit cigarette stuck to his bottom lip and his skin had the same color and texture as a relief map of Utah. He looked down at the pair of puppy drum…
DetailsFive on six, from sockeye to smallmouth. HANNA PERKINS, BROWN TROUT, BIG HOLE RIVER,MT. PHOTO: AUSTIN TRAYSER KATHRYN HICKMAN, SUMMER STEELHEAD, DEAN RIVER,B.C. PHOTO: JEFF HICKMAN
Details“Everybody’s got a plan until I hit ’em in the mouth.” — Mike Tyson “THIS IS GONNA HAPPEN FAST, OKAY?” I say to my angler, whose lips have curled into a half-smile. “The line is gonna burn your hand if you do it right.” He continues to search my face as I explain the violent…
DetailsLEAVE THE PASSPORT IN THE DRAWER, grab your rod, and head to sunny Florida for your springtime twofer. The combination of cozy Grapefruit League ballparks and hordes of saltwater game fish will cure your wintertime blues. First pitch for most games is on March 1, with the season going through April 4. Here’s your scouting…
DetailsIN THE SHOWTIME SERIES HOMELAND, Carrie Mathison, played by actress Claire Danes, leads drone strikes against terrorists from the comfort of her CIA station. But the same technology that makes drones—also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs—convenient military weapons, has also helped advance the careers of real-world civilians, including a growing list of flyfishing…
Details“THIS IS A SWEET CAR,” said the friendly sheriff of Hardin, Montana (population 3,500-ish), who’d just pulled us over for a burnt-out headlight. After promising to replace the light (Fat chance!), he let us roll on with no questions asked. (Which was damn lucky on our part, because if we’d have had to find any…
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Redington’s new video series “Find Your Water” goes city limits to deep woods, proving that good fishing can be found anywhere. Now go get some.
In another “screw you” to congress, the Obama administration recently approved a massive expansion of two marine sanctuaries off the California Coast. In the works for over a decade—and with overwhelming local support—the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries will more than double to become an area nearly the size of…
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Unlike New York’s Wall Street, Washington’s Skagit River is unpaved, graft free, and doesn’t have a namesake movie starring ’80s-era Michael Douglas. It does, however, have a steelhead population that’s doing better than it was following ESA listings that led to closures more than 5 years ago. Now, grassroots groups like Occupy Skagit are calling…
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Wolf Creek, Montana, is just ambitious enough to justify a post office and a couple of bars. Its proximity to cold, clear tailwater stretches of the Missouri River, below Holter dam, also make it ripe for a fly shop, and that’s where Wolf Creek Angler steps in. Shop co-owner Jason Orzechowski purchased the retail space…
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Uncooperative forecasts, shit light, and rising rivers? Leave it to the Man in Black and a single brown to save the shoot.
All waters inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park boundaries, for the first time in more than 80 years, are open to brookie fishing. The announcement by park officials follows last week’s reopening of 8 miles of Lynn Camp Prong—a section that was sidelined due to a seven-year native brook trout restoration project. “The opening of…
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